Off-ice Action To Decide Fate Of Admirals

Warner Hessler

Next weekend, the Hampton Roads Admirals will go to training camp for the final time as a member of the East Coast Hockey League, a league the franchise played a major role in turning into a success.

After spending a ninth and final season in the Class AA league, the Admirals, armed with a long-term lease at Norfolk Scope, will move up to the Class AAA American Hockey League and become the top farm club of Nashville's expansion entry in the NHL.

That's one scenario. Let's try another.

Next weekend, the Hampton Roads Admirals will go to training camp for the ninth time as a member of the ECHL.

Unable to justify the added expense of moving up to the AHL, the Admirals prepare for their final season as the prime tenant at Scope. City officials, angered by the Admirals refusal to be Triple A, entice the Detroit Red Wings to return their AHL team to Norfolk in 1998-99.

That AHL team started as the Virginia Wings in the early 1970s, then migrated north and became the Adirondack Red Wings. Now it returns to claim the prime dates at Scope. The Admirals will remain in Scope and play most of their games on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

OK, let's try a third scenario.

Next weekend, the Hampton Roads Admirals will go to training camp for the ninth time as a member of the ECHL and prepare for their final season at Scope.

Unable to secure a lease and share ice time at Scope with Norfolk's new AHL team, the Admirals will play in the Hampton Coliseum in 1998-99.

The first scenario is the most likely, the second is a bit strange and the third seems out of the question. But, with Norfolk officials insisting the Admirals move to the AHL and offering a lease that can be terminated if they remain in the ECHL, anything's possible.

The problem today is the same as it was more than a year ago when city leaders said they wanted Triple A hockey to go with their Triple A baseball team. Admirals owners Mark Garcea and Page Johnson have to find a way to generate the extra $800,000 or so it takes to play in the more expensive AHL.

Off the top, they can expect an extra $200,000 from playing 40 home games in the AHL instead of 35 in the ECHL. Assuming they maintain the 1996-97 attendance average of 6,895, they can gross an extra $900,000 by raising ticket prices from an average of $9 to $12 across the board.

That's an extra $1.1 million or so, but here's the kicker. Norfolk, which pulled 19 cents out of every dollar last year - 11 percent rent, 8 percent admission tax - wants to bump the rent to 12 percent and take 20 cents out of every dollar. That's high for a bare-bones building that offers few revenue streams other than ticket sales.

Using a best-case scenario that assumes fans don't balk at higher ticket prices, Garcea and Johnson stand to lose at least $250,000 per year.

Should they remain in the ECHL and an AHL team is secured, it would be interesting to see if Norfolk would allow the Admirals to play in the same building.

If not Hampton, with its 5 percent admission tax, would be an alternative. If the Admirals agreed to their current lease terms at Scope, 11 percent plus expenses, Coliseum director Joe Tsao might be persuaded to find room for hockey in his heavily booked arena.

The future of hockey in Hampton Roads rests on Norfolk creating a win-win situation that would allow the Admirals to make a smooth transition to the AHL with a reasonable chance of succeeding financially. Otherwise, if it comes down to a public relations battle between an out-of-town-owned AHL team and the locally owned Admirals, I'd put my money on the ECHL.